In this edition of Research Connections, find links to researchers in the news, updates on important deadlines, and more news for University of Rochester researchers. Email not displaying correctly?
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stem cells

Images of research

A finding by a team of international scientists, including several at the University of Rochester, could help answer why the universe is made up almost exclusively of matter, when matter and anti-matter were created in equal amounts in the Big Bang. Learn more about the first observation of the transformation of muon neutrinos to electron neutrinos. The image at left, available at the project website, is from the cylindrically-shaped Super Kamiokande detector used in the project. It shows the first electron-neutrino candidate observed after the recovery from the earthquake on the east coast of Japan in 2011. Learn more at the project website,

Do you have an interesting photo or other image that helps illustrate your research? We’d love to showcase it. Send a high res jpg or other version, along with a description of how it was taken, and what it shows, to bmarcotte@ur.rochester.edu. Please describe in terms that nonspecialists can understand!



Researchers in the news

That fun, University-produced video describing the optical cloaking devices that physics professor John Howell built with the help of his 14-year-old son Benjamin also did well: 729,269 views in the first week! As was the case with the video about Duje Tadin’s study (mentioned last week), this was timed with the release of a newsletter by University Communications, which promoted the story to national and international news outlets.


Congratulations to...

Jannick Rolland, the Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering, who has just secured a federal Industry/University Cooperative Research Center grant that will leverage more than $4 million in combined federal, industry and academic funding for the Center for Freeform Optics. ... Patrick Holland, professor of chemistry, has been named one of five winners of the regional Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists. ... Matt Kottmann, M.D., assistant professor in the division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, received a highly competitive Parker B. Francis Fellowship grant to study lung scarring. ... Craig R. Sellers, associate professor of clinical nursing, was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.


Introducing a new faculty member

Zhiyao Duan, whose research focus is computer audition, joins the Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty as assistant professor after earning a PhD earlier this summer from Northwestern University. This is another boost for the new major in audio and music engineering.


Points of pride

Gardasil, based on technology developed by Medical Center researchers William Bonnez, Richard Reichman, and Robert Rose, has reduced infections caused by the human papillomavirus or HPV - the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer - by more than half among girls and young women, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


Here to help you

Do you have cell lines or other one-of-a-kind reagents, antibodies, and biologicals left over from a research project, gathering "dust" in the back of your freezer? The Investigator's Annexe, sponsored by Kerafast, can help you find out if another researcher could use it, get it into their hands without going through time-consuming Material Transfer Agreements, and give you a sizeable royalty. Rochester is one of 52 universities and research institutes working with the Annexe to help advance science by disseminating hard-to-find research materials. Denise Hocking, associate professor of pharmacology and physiology and of biomedical engineering says, "we have been working with Kerafast for several months now and the arrangement has been working well. We've distributed several of our proteins to a variety of researchers here and abroad." For more information, contact Matan Rapoport in the Office of Tech Transfer.


Did you know?

Due to uncertainty about the National Science Foundation budget for fiscal year 2014, NSF has announced that the Political Science program will not have target dates in August, 2013 (for research grants) and September, 2013 (for Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants), but will maintain its January, 2014 target dates. Proposals will still be accepted at any time. Reviews of proposals received by the January, 2014 target date will be completed during the spring of 2014.


On the other hand

Despite overall constraints in federal research spending, funding for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs is scheduled to increase. For more information, go to our new University research website, click on the link "for Researchers" and then "collaborating with corporations."


Also new

The College of Arts, Sciences and Engineering has a new website dedicated to research, including highlighted topics in the arts and humanities, engineering, social sciences and natural sciences, and links to academic departments, research centers, core facilities and internal funding sources.

The Medical Center’s research website features a new blog, Research@URMC that brings more medical research stories to light and provides readers with timely coverage of scientific and medical developments here in Rochester and beyond.

And check out the CTSI Stories blog, which tells the stories of those who have benefitted from the UR Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the impact that CTSI-sponsored investigators have had on the community. It also informs the UR community of services and funding opportunities available through the CTSI.


Worth pondering

At a recent symposium on the IBM Watson computer and its role in Big Data analytics and health care, Stephen Gold, vice president of worldwide marketing for IBM Watson Solutions, likened the proliferation of data to vast untapped reserves of oil. "There’s plenty of it around, but it's no good to us until we extract it."


Mark your calendar

August 9: Deadline to submit abstracts for the Third Annual Center for Musculoskeletal Research Symposium (September 18). Submit abstracts to Bonnie Lipari.

August 12: Deadline for investigators to provide initial abstracts of proposals for Clinical and Translational Pilot Awards through the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

August 31: Deadline to apply for Matsumae International Foundation fellowships to young doctorate degree holders interested in conducting research in Japan, with natural science, engineering, and medicine a top priority.


Make a reservation

On October 22, 2013, the National Science Foundation will host a one-day workshop at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., to assist new faculty and other research scientists and educators from the New York and the northeast region to learn more about the full scope of NSF-supported research and education programs and priorities and to better understand the NSF grant proposal and merit review process.



Copyright 2013, All rights reserved.
Rochester Connections is a weekly e-newsletter all faculty, scientists, post docs and graduate students engaged in research at the University of Rochester. You are receiving this e-newsletter because you are a member of the Rochester community with an interest in research topics.